December 20, 2010 - There is a particular charm to the music of the old video game systems. This podcast celebrates the video game music of the '80s and early '90s. This week we'll be listening to tunes from Batman, Bomberman, Contra, Castlevania, and more.

February 17, 2009 - Our #1 has arrived. A few months back, we were taking stock of the American Virtual Console. It had been around for two full years or so, and had seen the re-release of hundreds of classics from the past -- but, notably, many major titles hadn't yet made it to the Wii Shop. So we did a countdown list of our top 10 picks still unreleased from the 8-bit NES, and Life Force led the pack. And now it's here. Our #1 has arrived.

October 10, 2008 - It all began with speculation. Hoping and dreaming, wishing for the best. When Nintendo's retro gaming download service, the Virtual Console, was first announced -- well, it was anyone's guess what games would appear. And anyone became our own Mark Bozon, who kicked off a feature called Retro Remix in the months leading up to the Wii's launch date to feature wishlist games we'd love to see on the service, and to assess whether or not they were actually likely to show up.

July 3, 2008 - The Reagan Era produced a strain of flag-waving pop culture moments, such as the movies Top Gun and Rambo III, thanks to both the height of the Cold War and the president's ability to communicate patriotism devoid of irony. This attitude permeated down to videogames, too, presenting gung-ho soldiers out to fight for freedom and the American way without any hint of snark -- something that cannot be said for games like Army of Two. It was a very different time. The threat of mutually assured destruction was no joke, a fear that mercifully never metastasized thanks to nuclear determent and the later discovery that the Soviet Union was eating itself from within.
In honor of tomorrow's holiday, the 4th of July, IGN Retro looks back at some of the biggest pro-American games to come out of this era, such as the Rambo titles, as well as games that lifted lingo from the period, such as Konami's Contra. And who can forget the translation of Metal Gear for American audiences that turned the head of Outer Heaven into a riff of the Libyan leader, Colonel CaTaffy? Different times, indeed.

March 20, 2007 - This week's topic: Toughest games to beat. Across the history of gaming there have been numerous titles that have knocked players on their collective butts. Narrowing down the ten most difficult was a tricky task in itself, since the challenge of a game can be very subjective. In gathering our top ten, we gave favor to titles widely considered difficult by both IGN editors and readers and that derived that challenge through game design. If you have the skill to topple all ten of the games bellow, give yourself 1000 IGN Achievement Points.